Full-Time Training Reviews

Programs Reviewed: 99
Total Reviews: 392

Canada's National Ballet School

Full-Time Reviews

General

Who is Reviewing?

1
9
2

Program

12

Season Attended

1
1
1
2
3
2
2

# Of Levels In School

  • "Junior School is academic Gr 6-9 and Senior School is Grade 10-12. Each grade typically has two ballet levels. Therefore they are either dancing with some students from the academic year above or below. Sometimes smaller academic grades are all in the same ballet class."
  • "The levels are by grade. The amount of students vary by how many can train at that level. They so not be able to stay for the next year/level if their technique is not adequate. There is a CLP (bridge program) it is unpaid, but the school has housing at a discounted rate."
  • "Grade6-12 and a bridge program called Company Life Program"
  • "Goes thru grade 12 & there is a post grad bridge level available"
  • "2"
  • "Grade 6-CLP (Company Life Experience)"
  • "6th grade through Company Life Program"
  • "Full-time program runs from Grade 6 - 12"
  • "Sometimes grades were mixed"
  • "Grade 6 through company life program. Grades 6-9 are the junior school. Grades 10-12 are the senior school. Company Life Program is the postgraduate level (can be 2 years)"
  • "Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12, Company life program (postgraduate)."
  • "I’m not sure how the levels work. The program follows the Ontario school system, from Grades 6 to 12. After graduation, students who have not yet been accepted into a professional ballet company may continue in the Company Life Program, a two-year post-secondary program designed to help prepare them for a professional career. They also have a teachers program"

Level Dancer Was In

Repeated Responses:
  • "Grade 11" (2 responses)
  • "Grade 8" (3 responses)
Unique Responses:
  • "Junior Level Academic Gr 8"
  • "12th grade Men’s"
  • "Grade8"
  • "Grade 10"
  • "Professional Ballet Program"
  • "No levels, classes are determined usually by grade with a few acceptions if new to the school."
  • "Grade 9 (14-15 years)"

Dancer Age

1
3
3
1
1
3

Hours of Dance Each Week

1
2
1

Gender

9
3

Company Affliated?

1
11

Was Student Scholarshipped?

9
3

Please Describe Scholarship

  • "Scholarships/Financial Aid are on a needs basis. You fill out a long form with an independent company which includes information about parent income, how many children and what are their expenses (sports, academics or otherwise) along with bills… it was comprehensive and through this financial aid would be allocated."
  • "NBS does not offer merit scholarships it is solely on your ability to pay. They do a rigorous financial assessment and determination your financial aid."
  • "NBS uses Apple Financial to assess financial need"
  • "no scholarship at the moment"

Years At School

1
5
2
2
1

Full time or after school?

4

Curriculum

Days Per Week

12

Classes Per Day

7
4
1

Weekend Classes?

12

Weekend Schedule

1
11

Students Per Class

5
4
3

Weekly Repertoire or Variations?

3
9

Pointe Classes Per Week

1
2
7
2

Live Music in Technique Class?

12

Dedicated Men's Program?

1
11

Men Taught by Male Teacher?

1
3

Men Taught Batterie?

1
3

Boys In Level

2
7
1
2

Separate Technique Class for Boys

12

Techniques Taught

8
4

Technique Teacher Rotation

12

Did School Director Teach?

1
2
3
5
1

Classroom Corrections

9
1
2

Attention From Teachers

Very Little
1
2
2
7
A Lot

Quality of Instruction

Poor
1
2
9
Excellent

Did Technique Improve?

Not at all
1
2
1
8
Tremendously

Curriculum Comments

  • "Daily Ballet Technique in the NBS Syllabus (an amalgamation of Cecchetti & Vaganova) occurred 6 days/week. Followed by a short snack break, then their second dance class was either pointe, Nutcracker Rehearsals, Conditioning, Contemporary or Afro Fusion"
  • "1 technique visas per day and 1 other ie. contemporary, variations, partnering. The second class of the day rotated."
  • "Ballet & pointe, conditioning and depending on the week it could be partnering, variations or another form of dance for grades 6-9"
  • "General classical but has its own progressive curriculum through the grades"
  • "Vagonova, Pointe, Rehearsals, Pas de deus, very little modern/contemporary, no conditioning"
  • "Ballet class technique daily. Other classes rotated,"
  • "Ballet in the morning followed by academics in afternoon with ballet class after too -"
  • "Technique and pointe daily."
  • "We have technique, pointe, conditioning, partnering, contemporary, afrofusion and rehearsals depending on the time of year."
  • "every day ballet class, pointe (or allegro), few times of week conditionning and one dance style (afro fusion and contemporay for exemple). No character dance Saturday ballet class and/or rehearshal"

Partnering

Frequency of Partnering Class

2
4
1
5

Partner Ratio

4
2
1

Who Taught?

1
4
2

How Much Partnering Improved

No
1
1
2
3
Tremendously

Quality of Pas Teaching

Poor
1
1
1
4
Excellent

How Were Corrections Given?

6
1

Description of Partnering Class

  • "Traditional. NBS focused a lot of training for a core so spacing was ways emphasized."
  • "Partnering starts grade 8, very basic"
  • "Progressive skills based on physical maturity"
  • "Partnering class was always a favorite of my sons. I think because his school held off introducing partnering until they were older that they were really ready when it came time."
  • "Inconsistent"
  • "General partnering class"
  • "My daughter has always the same partner in her class. She didnt have to share with a other girl. They were associate togheter because of size requierement."

Additional Comments

Repeated Responses:
  • "No" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
  • "NBS protected the male dancers by making sure it was safe and they were able to do the level of partnering taught."
  • "Excellent program"
  • "Inconsistent - 5 boys and many females"
  • "I dont really know how they have improve as we don't see any work at the moment. and as it was the first year for my daughter it was not yet included in the ballet report card."

Other Classes

Other Dance Styles

6
1
3
2
7

Other Class Quality

Poor
1
2
4
5
Excellent

Contemporary Offered?

4
8

Types of Contemporary Classes Taught

3
2
4
7

Contemporary Quality

Poor
2
1
5
Excellent

Master Classes?

9
3

Master Classes Description

  • "Classes & Choreography with Jera Wolf"
  • "Directors from other companies would come and teach as well as exchange programs for dancers to go to other schools."
  • "Na"
  • "Various professional dancers would come in and teach various master classes on the weekends."
  • "Rehearsals, rehearsals, pointe, pas de deux though inconsistent, repertoire"
  • "No master classes but they do have performance opportunities where choreographers come and teach and rehearse for specific shows. Also there is an exchange program that sends dancers to other schools and vice-versa, hosts dancers from other schools at various points during the school year."

Strength & Conditioning

Physical Training Offered?

3
9

Physical Training Types

6
2
1
3
1
3
2
5

Physical Training Schedule

1
4
4

Were Trainers Certified?

8

Physical Training Quality

Poor
1
3
5
Excellent

Strength & Conditioning Comments

Repeated Responses:
  • "No" (2 responses)
Unique Responses:
  • "Taught by the on staff Athletic Therapist with artistic staff suggestions"
  • "Body conditioning, stretch, yoga"
  • "My kid love conditionning."

Injuries / Health / Mental Health

Are Doctors Available?

1
1
7
3

How Parents Notified?

5
1
4
2

How Treatment Obtained?

  • "On site Physiotherapist that the ballet teacher signs the student up with."
  • "They have a Pediatrician and Physio on staff"
  • "Chaperone would take student to appointment"
  • "School set it up"
  • "The school had doctors that visited the children in residence"
  • "Daughter was scared and not open and staff said nothing"
  • "My student was not injured but NBS has an Artistic Health Dept that consists of a full time Nurse Practitioner, a physiotherapist, an athlete therapist/conditioning coach and a yoga instructor. They also conduct physio screens to help identify specific training needs for each dancer to hopefully prevent injury."
  • "Yes and no. PT availability was better in the year being documented but was not good in prior two years."
  • "yes"
  • "Physiotherapist on site"
  • "Never needed it"

PT Available?

3
9

Was There a Recovery Plan?

5
2
5

Describe Recovery Plan

  • "Any therapy and modifications are made before a dancer returns. They are assessed before taking away modifications."
  • "PT and they slowly ease you back"
  • "Detailed between PT/AD/ orthopedic surgeon"
  • "Have no clue"
  • "Students either went to special classes ir injured or observed class. Not a lot of information provided to parents."

Mental Health Therapists Available?

2
6
4

Were Students Given Fat Talk?

12

Staff Made Comments About Bodies?

8
1
3

Were Students Weighed?

9
1
2

Was "Coded Language" Used?

3
6
3

Additional Comments

  • "Residence staff is good at providing a discreet and quiet location for Zoom Therapy sessions should you choose for your child to see an outside therapist. The school has someone appointed to the Health Department who oversees nutrition advice, medical, physical rehabilitation…. Should X-Rays or outside of the school medical attention be needed for your student, the school facilitates the appointments and ensure a chaperone is able to accompany residence students"
  • "NBS is incredibly safe for young dancers."
  • "Excellent mental health resources"
  • "All a fancy facade including the government sponsored health and wellness research centre. No support. All staff emeshed with one another."
  • "Very good mental health and support, they have an academic class dedicated to discussing issues related to mental health, performing, nutrition, being away from home, etc…"
  • "Some inappropriate comments about being able to see someone's lunch after lunch and some emphasis on being princess like. Not a lot of focus on injury prevention or conditioning as far as I can see. Pilates was recommended in earlier grades but it had to be done out of school and paid for."
  • "Mental health therapy was forced without parental consent"
  • "Excellent mental health program"
  • "they are very very prompt to tale action and check in with the student very often about how their body feel. And ask the kid to no jump if a kid complains. and they have a lot of physio appointement as needed."

Performances: Winter Show / Nutcracker

Performance Opportunities

5
5
2

School Winter Show?

1
11

Company or School Show?

10
1

Cast in Winter Show?

1
10

How Chosen

10

Winter Show Role

1
3
6

Were You Paid?

9
1

If Paid, Please Describe

  • "Paid per part, travel, food not included"
  • "N/A"

Rehearsal Impact on Classes

Disruptions
1
1
1
No Impact

Rehearsal Hours

2
1

Performance: Ballet Season

Cast in Company Productions?

9
3

Kind of Part Given?

1
2

How Chosen

2
1

Was Casting Fair?

1
2

Did Rehearsals Impact School Schedule?

Disruptions
1
1
1
No Impact

Perfomance Opportunities

  • "Younger students participate in Nutcracker, some students are selected to dance in appropriate company performances. The school has its own theater for performances throughout the year danced by all the students."
  • "N/A"
  • "Dependant on financial status. Favourites picked."

Were You Paid?

3

Competition

School Does Competitions?

12

Communication

Formal Orientation?

2
1
9

Handboook & Paperwork

10
2

Quality of Communication?

Poor
1
1
2
2
6
Excellent

Who Received Communication?

2
10

Exams

Formal Exam?

1
11

Written Feedback?

11

Exam Adjudicator

11

Exam Rubrics Clear?

2
7
2

Who Attends Exam Meeting?

2
3
1
5

Well Prepared For Exam?

Not at all
1
2
8
Completely

How Heavily Did Exams Weigh in Promotions

Not at all
2
1
5
1
2
Heavily

School Culture

How Supported Did Student Feel By Staff?

Not
1
1
1
9
Completely

How Supportive Were Students of One Another?

Not
1
1
1
3
6
Completely

Describe School Culture

  • "Professional, family, Supportive, Caring & disciplined"
  • "They don’t promote everyone each year so there is some stress, but the school is very communicative and uses very encouraging language around these discussions. The dancers who do not get accepted for the next year are helped in finding another program."
  • "Amazing, kids are their family"
  • "Wholistic"
  • "Loving, caring, supportive, Encouraging, generous"
  • "Elitest, secretive, competitive, nepotistic, uneducated"
  • "Supportive, Inclusive, Wholistic, Innovative, Fun"
  • "Competitive Intense Imbalanced Lonely"
  • "Favourites, political, unfair, poor leadership"
  • "Supportive. Caring. Wholistic. Talented. Generous."
  • "determined, realistic, joyful,"
  • "Supportive, disciplined, collaboration, respectful"

Placement Notification Timing

Repeated Responses:
  • "May" (3 responses)
Unique Responses:
  • "May Long Weekend"
  • "April or May"
  • "Around Easter"
  • "Spring time"
  • "Mid summer"
  • "May - and each year, kids are asked to leave until Gr 11."
  • "Mid May"
  • "Day of start of school"
  • "we are receiving an email around May if our kid is accepted for the next school year. Around the same moment (a little before I'm guessing), parents get a phone call if their kids might not be invited back and the kid have a meeting with the principal talking about the area of improvement require if they are not sure yet. ."

How Dancer Was Notified

4

Dancer Had Mentor?

2
2

Mentoring Details

  • "My daughter felt she could go to her ballet teacher for guidance or openly discuss aches and pains. She also was assigned a senior student as her “buddy” who was available to help."
  • "No formal mentoring program in place. But the school’s older students are very accessible and the student govt is great at keeping all students engaged and involved."
  • "Each student in the senior school has a set teacher for the entire year that we consistently have meetings with."
  • "If you want to include that detail, you could write: I’m not aware of a formal mentorship program involving older students. However, the older dancers naturally mentor the younger ones. For example, during the Nutcracker season (typically involving students from Grades 6 to 9), they provide a great deal of support, especially with memorizing choreography and learning how to behave professionally during important rehearsals. This mentorship happens organically rather than through an official or structured program."

Overall School Culture

Cold & Exclusive
1
1
1
1
8
Warm & Inclusive

School Outcomes

Is Student In Upper Levels?

4
4

Highest Levels of School?

5
1
1

How Many Promoted Internally to Bridge Level

1
1
1
1
1
1
1

How Many Come From Outside to Bridge Level?

1
1
1
1

Where Graduates Who Do Not Get Bridge Level Go

2
3
2

How Many Left and Went to College?

1
1
2
1
2

How Many Grads Went Directly to Company Job?

3
1
1
1
1

Career Support

3
3
2

Describe How School Helped

  • "N/A"
  • "Everyone in their Senior receives a placement counselor. The Director is also involved in setting up auditions."
  • "AD communicated with AD at new program"
  • "They helped with his résumé, helped with pictures. They help setting up audition and all the material needed."
  • "Dancer had to do it but spoke to an assigned staff that did very little."
  • "designated individual mentorship and classes to help us take the next step."

Building & Surrounding Area

Security Around Building

12

Safety of Area Around School?

Not Safe
1
1
3
7
Extremely Safe

Studio Space

Cramped
12
Lots of space

Studio Cleanliness

Dirty
1
11
Spotless

Housing

Was Housing Provided?

11

Did Dancer Stay in Provided Housing?

2
10

Where Did Dancer Live?

2

Type of Housing Provided:

3
9
1

Housing Minimum Age

Repeated Responses:
  • "11" (2 responses)
  • "Grade 6" (3 responses)
Unique Responses:
  • "Academic Grade 6"
  • "12"
  • "6th grade"
  • "not sure, maybe 9 or 10 years"
  • "10"

# of Roommates:

9
1

Adequate # of RA's?

Not at all
2
1
1
6
Absolutely

Type of Bathrooms:

1
1
1
1
5

Curfew?

10

Curfew Reasonable?

10

Nightly Room Check?

3
7

Dorm Strictness

Extremely Lax
2
1
4
2
1
Extremely Strict

How Infractions Handled?

4
2
2
3

How Roommate Issues Handled?

  • "RA attempted to facilitate, then a roommate agreement would be drawn up."
  • "We didn’t have any"
  • "No conflicts"
  • "Verbally between roommates-didn’t need RA involvement"
  • "They usually met with each roommate individually and then together and helped facilitate conversations and come up with solutions"
  • "Were not"
  • "No conflict"
  • "Resident counsellors typically sided with non-white students"
  • "No conflicts this year"
  • "Room switch if extreme."

Housing Cleanliness

Dirty
1
1
3
5
Spotless

Students Required to Clean Room?

5
5

Laundry Available?

10

Laundry Free?

2
8

Evening Activities?

2
8

A/C In Room?

2
8

Weekend Outings?

4
6

Transportation Between Housing and Studios?

1
6
3

Safety Around Housing

Not Safe
1
3
6
Very Safe

Overall Rating of Housing

Poor
2
1
2
5
Excellent

Additional Comments

  • "Residence is cleaned by a cleaner however students are responsible to upkeep the cleanliness of their room, make beds every morning and ensure floors are clean so the cleaner could mop the floor. Students were also responsible for washing their own dishes if they used any outside of meals. Students in Gr 6-8 can not leave without a chaperone and so were often bored or stir crazy in the evenings especially during winter when evening walks were minimal. Weekends often had optional outings organized. Some dorm rules make sense and others seem arbitrary and ridiculous minimizing social opportunities for students and can leave them to being on their devices too long. Homework/ quiet time is enforced. Day students are allowed to visit their friends in residence but must remain in common areas."
  • "Na"
  • "My son had a wonderful experience and lived in the residence provided by the school for seven years. He felt loved and supported by the counselors that lived on the floor with them and the staff that worked in the front desk area as well as the kitchen area. I can’t say enough good things about this program."
  • "Sex, drugs and alcohol. Students experimenting and acting out. Competitive. Sexual assault not reported but counsellor fired."
  • "Very safe! I felt like my child was so well taken care of by all the residence staff. She loves living there with her classmates and has made incredible friendships."
  • "Kids are allowed to run wild. Residence counsellors had favourites. Kids were allowed to play loud music late at night. Poorly ran overall."

Meal Plan

Meal Plan?

10

Food Quality

Gross
1
1
7
1
Excellent

Enough Food?

2
8

Late Meals Available?

1
2
7

Dancer w/ Dietary Needs?

9
1

What Were Needs?

  • "Vegetarian"

Dietary Needs Met?

Limited Options
1
Many Options

Academics

How Did Academics Work?

12

Academic Support

11
1

Did the School Support Academics?

Didn't support
1
1
10
Definitely supported

Overall Program Grades

Overall Dance Instruction

6
2
2
1
1

Career Support and Placement

4
2
1
2
2
1

Emotional Support

7
1
1
1
1
1

Housing & Food

6
1
1
2
1
1

Performance Opportunities

5
3
1
1
2

Overall Comments

Program's Best Aspect

  • "Student safety is prioritized from chaperones to/from airports or across the city to key access doors to move about. I feel my daughter is safe when she is on campus and truly believe her overall well being both physically and mentally is a priority with the school. The Junior School Artistic Director responds to emails in a kind way and in a timely matter. Academic teachers are also good at emailing weekly newsletters and responding to parent questions."
  • "Safety and educational opportunities"
  • "Everything so far. Very impressed"
  • "Wholistic but realistic approach"
  • "The professional training and the love and support provided by all the staff. It was an excellent program and I can’t say anything but good things about it. I would highly recommend this program to any serious child who is interested in a career as a ballet dancer. It’s not for everyone. The student must be very serious and embrace this way of living away from your family and studying and being very serious about their dancing career."
  • "Studios"
  • "This is a top notch program. The dancing, the ballet training is exceptional, but my favorite aspect of NBS is the culture. They want every single dancer there to feel safe, supported and valuable. And when young dancers feel that way they can truly make the most of the amazing opportunities presented to them at NBS."
  • "Teachers know their stuff - technically strong"
  • "The Nutcracker was fun, but certain roles were based on size and not on skill."
  • "The culture of the school. The level of ballet."
  • "The people"
  • "The caring and supportive faculty is one of the program’s greatest strengths. The Artistic Principal of the Junior School has built a genuine partnership with us as parents, creating a strong team around our child. On several occasions, the staff have shown us how well they truly know and understand her. The teachers genuinely want every student to succeed and work hard to create a positive learning environment. The school also provides excellent academic education, outstanding facilities, and valuable performance opportunities, especially through *The Nutcracker*. The friendships and strong sense of community are also major strengths."

Program's Worst Aspect

  • "I wish there was more contemporary or modern hours for my dancer. I also wish there was more conditioning or Pilates or Cross training to support strength during growth spurts. My dancer said some kitchen staff is rude about giving seconds, while others were kind. Depended on who was working."
  • "Nothing"
  • "Distance from home"
  • "It was very hard to be apart from my son for so much time. We lived in Connecticut, then New York and The school was in Toronto."
  • "Lack of communication, archaic teaching methods, facade, elitist"
  • "Just how far away our child is from home."
  • "My daughter had the same teacher for all three years at NBS - which seemed strange to us. The teacher was not a good fit but school refused to place her in another class. Teacher was a relatively new teacher and there seemed to be very little oversight or mentoring of her. It is an "up or out" school which makes for a very pressured intense experience. Some kids handle it well - mine didn't. Teachers appear to have favorites and if you are not one, this can sap your confidence. Daughter was not asked back for Gr 9 - and once they have the conversation with you, they are done with you - you never hear from them again. Academics are mixed - some teachers are good, others not - and dance is prioritized over learning."
  • "The program can be boring. They selectively choose which students or what grades get to participate in other opportunities. The environment seemed stale. They brought in a new director, but even that doesn't seem to have changed the program much. Their residence is very poorly run and can be toxic to live in. Bullying is often overlooked."
  • "This year they changed the format of the second round of auditions from a summer school audition to weeklong short stays during the school year. This was a bit disruptive to the year round students."
  • "My daughter consistently receives very strong marks in ballet and is considered a good student. However, she would appreciate receiving more corrections and being challenged more often. She sometimes finds the progression slow and would welcome greater technical and artistic difficulty. At the same time, as a parent, I value the school’s respectful approach to children’s growing bodies and its emphasis on safe, age-appropriate development."

What Changes Would Be Helpful?

  • "Prioritizing modern and contemporary more than afro fusion."
  • "Adding Pilates would be nice"
  • "Na"
  • "Nothing"
  • "Communication to parents and a reality check on the health and wellness of youth"
  • "Exit process - timing, language, support afterwards all has to change. Better connections between students who board and those who live at home, especially younger kids. More mental health support built into program. More performance opportunities."
  • "Students need more performance opportunities to keep them interested. The program is boring."
  • "Go back to second stage auditions over summer"
  • "I would also love to see a pantomime class offered in the future, as I feel there is currently little focus on this aspect. It would benefit from having a dedicated teacher rather than being covered only by ballet instructors."

Anything Else We Should Know?

  • "I think it’s important that families go in with the understanding that the junior school does less hours than what they may be used to at their former studios. However the hours of training does support what is actually needed for a dancer who is 11-15yrs of age in order to ensure injury prevention during puberty and what is typically the greatest ages for growth and body changes. My dancer technically improved drastically each year and her academic/dance life was very balanced."
  • "Parents, do not send your child anywhere unless you fully understand how professional schools work. There needs to be change!"
  • "It's not for everyone!"
  • "A very small portion make it into the company and only some make it into the company life program. Even the company life program can be a waste of time for most. It's hard to get a good sense of their success rate after graduation. I don't recommend sending a student there."
  • "My dancer has grown so much in every aspect from ballet to overall maturity. This has been a fantastic, safe place for her to grow into an accomplished dancer and human overall"
  • "Ballet schedules are given day of, can be hard to work around."
  • "Over the years, I have noticed that the residence experience can be very challenging for some students, particularly those who struggle with homesickness. A few students have chosen to leave because living away from home was too difficult for them. The school also has a very strong policy on bullying and inappropriate behaviour. We have seen students not return after serious behavioural concerns, which shows that the school takes student safety and well-being seriously."
Reviews
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Dancer Age
Gender
Age: 13, FemaleInstruction A
Placement A-
Performance A-

Attended 2025-26, Stayed In Housing, Special Diet
Age: 14, FemaleInstruction A-
Placement B
Performance A+

Attended 2025-26
Age: 14, FemaleInstruction A+
Placement A+
Performance A+

Attended 2024-25, Stayed In Housing
Age: 17, FemaleInstruction A
Placement B-
Performance A

Attended 2024-25, Stayed In Housing
Age: 15, FemaleInstruction D
Placement B-
Performance D

Attended 2023-24, Stayed In Housing
Age: 13, FemaleInstruction A+
Placement A+
Performance A+

Attended 2023-24, Stayed In Housing
Age: 12, FemaleInstruction B+
Placement D
Performance D

Attended 2023-24, Stayed In Housing
Age: 17, MaleInstruction A+
Placement A+
Performance A+

Attended 2022-23, Stayed In Housing
Age: 14, FemaleInstruction A+
Placement A
Performance A

Attended 2022-23, Stayed In Housing
Age: 13, FemaleInstruction A-
Placement B
Performance C

Attended 2020-21